Collet

Hi Family!How are all of you doing? I hope that everything is going well for everyone! I miss and love you all!So, let's see... just an update on life here. It is good! I had a bit of a mid-semester rough spot, but things are definitely better now. I just love seeing my kids at the orphanage and hospital every day. It's been great forming personal relationships with each of the children and getting to the point where I know more about them and how to interact with them. It is so rewarding to watch them progress! (I can't wait to be a mother one day... it must be even more exciting when they're your own children!) I've been working on walking while holding on to only one hand with one of the toddlers, and the highlights of several of my days in the past two weeks have been smiles from a perfect 5-month-old baby whom I absolutely love. Some of my friends have accused me of being obsessed with a few of the kids, and one of my friends called me nebună (crazy) after I got really excited after a particularly adorable smile... let's just say it will be hard to leave them! But I'm not the only one who has plotted to steal one, two, or all of the kids and take them home in our suitcases since Romania doesn't allow international adoption. We've all become quite attached to them, and hope that we're able to impact their ability to form loving attachments with people, which is one of the great struggles of institutionalism.There continue to be ups and downs every day and throughout the week, but the ups are so sweet and just perfect sometimes that it makes the downs worth it. We have our mid-semester retreat starting tomorrow. We are traveling to Brasov, Romania, and I think it will be a good time to relax, reflect, and rejuvenate. I'll let you know how it goes when I get back!Love you all!Te pup! (yes, that's pronounced just like 'poop'. It means 'I kiss you,' which Romanians, like many Europeans, do as a form of greeting and farewell. The kissing, not the pooping :) Sorry, just thought I'd clarify. Gross. What a gross sense of humor I have sometimes. You'd think I have 3 older brothers or something. Seriously.)